Martial arts to turn my body into a weapon?

[Ohnoezfail]

Hello all

After prancing about in a bunch of silly university societies in my first year and putting off getting fit and healthy for the longest time, I've decided to hire a personal trainer for summer and buy a whole year's worth of Gym membership to make sure I don't turn back this time.

Over the summer I'll be working on my entire body as well as the duration of next year. Strength, stamina, form, the lot.

I've always wanted to protect myself and others and I have never been someone who has been strong, so I've decided to join a few martial arts societies for next year. My problem is choosing which ones as there's so many!! I'm after ones that are ideally focused around self defense and getting fit. If my build matters, I'm about 6'0 and like 65kg right now but hopefully that will change very soon!

I'm definitely going to be learning Krav Maga but I am not sure if I should try to learn others at the same time? They only hold 1 or 2 sessions a week, if that.

The rest of the list I can choose from:

Aikido
Ju Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Muay Thai
Judo
Taekwondo
Shaolin Temple Kung Fu
Mixed Martial Arts - suppoedly incorpororates the most effective parts of various martial arts including muay thai, jiu jitsu and judo
Boxing
Wing Chun Kung Fu
Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate

Some of these are also focused on building mental confidence and all that which comes with the more eastern martial arts. If anybody is curious about quality of instructors, they have people like ex-marines and sifus/masters teaching, so there will be no worries about that.

Any first hand experiences of learning these would really be nice, some insight/tips would be excellent

 

[Ohnoezfail]

Watch out for blowing £££ on gym shakes, gym membership etc. as you may not ever use them.

It took me years to get into the gym, but for some it is love at first sight.

I am not ripped, I am touch chubby (far slimmer than a year ago!), but the gym keeps the weight off and has built muscle for me.

Eat more Tuna/Turkey/Chicken. Use a gym trainer to set you up a gym routine (personal trainers every week are really not required and are expensive) and put on the muscle, especially if you are skinny now and don't need to lose fat.

I got no women for years on end, then at 26 1/2 I got confidence overnight.

Gym leads to muscle.
Muscle leads to confidence.
Confidence leads to laydeeeeeeeeeees!

I'll be buying a uni gym membership as it is compulsory to do to use the facilities.. which is also what some of these martial arts groups do as for protein shakes I will most likely just make my own. we have a few tubs of protein powder from when my dad and brother worked out for a while.

I am fairly slim so I don't need to lose any fat. I have confidence but I just wish to become more physically capable. Don't have much of a problem with the ladies either

 

[Ohnoezfail]

Just buy a gun.

is also a good way to get fit... as is boxing - hopefully your class involves lots of bag work, skipping...

get rid of the personal trainer - tis a ridiculous thing to have as a student (or at any time really) - a boxing gym will get you into fantastic shape without the need for that nonsense

Judo should also get you into shape - frankly any martial art will be good for fitness but the ones with a competition element should especially encourage it, they're also excellent for self defence

I'd exercise a lot of caution with the more 'exotic', supposedly traditional arts in your list - there is a much greater risk of ending up in a McDojo type set up with those and wasting your time essentially doing a bunch of LARPing in pajamas while taking it in turns to 'attack' and defend against ridiculous attacks.

The presonal trainer will only be around for summer, mainly to help me with my routine.

Definitely bearing this in mind. I'll have freshers week to pretty much to try them all and see which ones are a bit faff.

Many of those martial arts are a total waste of time for self defence. Taekwondo for example is flashy and fun to watch but offers little practicality in the real world. MMA is not really a style but more of a mixture of standing and ground work, where as BJJ is almost entirely grappling on the floor and boxing is obviously entirely on your feet. Muay Thai is probably the most brutal sport you've listed. Don't bother with fashionable youtube famous stuff like Krav Maga, total waste of time.

I've been boxing casually for a long while but I've always wanted to get into Judo. Check out Ronda Rousey, Olympic Judoka and undefeated mixed martial artist. I'd put money on her over any male Krav Maga practitioner any day.

Heard quite a bit about this lady, seems very tough and deadly! How come Krav Maga is a bit naff though? I was under the impression it can be quite useful?

I would recommend against doing a bunch at the same time. By all means try a few out until you find what you like, but then stick with that one. From that list, i've done Tae Kwon Do when I was a kid and did Wing Chun at university. Currently doing kickboxing (but not Muay Thai).

As others have said, Muay Thai is probably one of the most brutal. Doesn't necessarily mean it's the right one for you though as it depends on what aspects you like etc. Do you want to maintain some distance? Do you want to learn to fight up close etc.? All of them will do this to an extent, but each has its own focus. Tae Kwon Do focuses on kicks, Muay Thai is knees and elbows, Wing Chun is getting up close and so on.

Is it a bad thing to do more than one? Even though there will only be one or two sessions a week for each one so that's only around 2 hours per week!

How did you find them when it comes to getting fit and being practical?

I'd like to be prepared for all sorts of situations, but I think up close will probably be the best one when it comes to getting dirty

 

[Ohnoezfail]

Then when you're faced with the option to use your skills and new strength, know that you can, but walk away from the fight.

The discipline you will learn from pushing your body not only with your chose MA but at the gym as well - you will learn to discipline your behaviour to keep away from getting involved in unnecessary fights.

Wise words ^

Never a good idea to use trained skills on the street unless you have to, you can cause severe damage to someone who's untrained and land yourself in a world of trouble.

I have already been taught this by my ever so experienced father who has been in quite a few scuffles in his time don't worry, I'd just like to be prepared if I ever need to. I will never expect to injure someone seriously.

At the risk of sounding a bit negative the reasons

...

than because you're expecting it to make you lethally effective...

Thank you and I can get where you're coming from as I reread my post. I'm not expecting to become an MMA fighter in my life or to beat a man to death. I'm doing it primarily for the fitness but also as a precaution for anything that could happen when I'm out. I'm a cautious individual and I've got friends who have had drinks spiked and have had racist abuse hurled at my family and things like this. I'd simply like to be able to defend then and myself if I really have to. I know it will take quite a while and I cannot be prepared for everything.

Wing Chun and Akido is a deadly combination which I practise martial arts in.

A new combination enters the fray how do you find it?

 

[Ohnoezfail]

So many conflicting opinions but I really appreciate them all. I suppose that it all depends on how these are taught and whether or not I'll be actually doing a lot of sparring rather than prancing about and acting . I'll be asking the instructors a lot of questions about how they teach and what the sessions involve.

Just noticed this bit and it has me concerned (maybe a little deja vu), which Uni are you at?

I'm at the uni of Bristol. The info can be found here:

http://www.bristolsu.org.uk/activities/societies/kravmaga/

There's also details like this on the other pages but not all of them!